Nokia Lumia 900 Smarter Apps Sweepstakes launches on Facebook

Microsoft and Nokia's Lumia 900 Windows Phone marketing juggernaut doesn't look like it's slowly down. The latest chapter of Rolling Thunder appears over on Facebook with a chance to win one of ten Lumia 900s in the Smarter Apps Sweepstakes.

To enter just hop on over to this Facebook page, choose your favorite apps (WPCentral is listed in the News Category), type why you like these apps and share your choices (optional).

The sweepstakes has ten entry periods that span from April 23rd to June 30th. Entries will only be eligible for the entry period for which they are received and participants are limited to 25 entries per authorized Facebook account holder per day. Oh and the sweepstakes is open only to residents of the U.S., D.C., and Puerto Rico (don't blame the messenger). You can find the rest of the fine print at the bottom of the Facebook page.

Cyan Nokia Lumia 900 back in stock at AT&T. Well sort of...

The cyan Nokia Lumia 900 is joining the white and black models as being available for order from AT&T.com . Can't really say the cyan model is really back in stock because the Windows Phone is listed as "will ship in 5-7 business days".

More than likely Nokia informed AT&T that the truck's ready to leave the Nokia assembly line to head over to the AT&T Warehouse. Which usually takes a few days.

While not the most ideal of situations, it is progress. For those not familiar with the Lumia 900, it's available at AT&T for $99.99 after two-year contractual discounts or $449.99 off contract.

AmazonWireless has the cyan Lumia 900 listed for $49.99 after discounts and $449.99 off contract. Downside with AmazonWireless is that they are listing the cyan model as "Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks".

Win a Lumia 900 Windows Phone by captioning this photo

Ben (the "PC Guy" and "Mass Windows Phone Marketing Agent") Rudolph is returning with a slightly different attempt to give away Windows Phones. Should you desire what we'd assume to be a white Lumia 900, then you might be in with a chance of winning one (image / competition idea courtesy of Nokia For Us). Simply use your creative powers to create a suitable caption for the above photo, which sits the Nokia device next to a white bar of Dove soap.

How does one enter with their snazzy caption? Simply tweet your entry, adding the #captionthatlumia (click to view some of the entires already published) hashtag. The competition is running through until April 29th (11:59pm PT) when Rudolph will create a post on the Windows team blog announcing the winners. You can enter as many captions as you like, we look forward to reading yours. It's at least a refreshing change from the Smoked by Windows Phone campaign.

Yesterday WPCentral promised to reveal two upcoming Xbox Live games from Glu Mobile, the first of which is Contract Killer. Today we follow up with the announcement of a second, even more exciting Glu title: Gun Bros.

Gun Bros (pronounced ‘bros,’ not ‘brothers') is a twin-stick overhead shooter. Players control either of the two beefy siblings as they fight to stop the evil organization known as T.O.O.L. (no relation to the band, whose concert was the first I ever attended) from stealing the galaxy’s valuable Xplodium resources. The plot is basically an excuse to head from planet to planet, taking on missions of various difficulties, killing tons of unfriendly aliens, and collecting as much Xplodium as you can.

Between missions, the Gun Bros can process their Xplodium to turn it into gold. Better processing methods unlock as you go along. Gold is then used to buy new weapons and armor pieces. The character customization element adds a nice degree of depth and helps the heroes survive against more challenging foes.

Gun Bros’ freemium element comes from its second currency, War Bucks. These are an optional PDLC purchase that let you buy premium equipment (much like the coins in Bug Village).Premium items are much better than regular ones, making progression faster and easier. Gun Bros is an action game though, and you can play it as much as you want (no time constraints here) without buying War Bucks.

Another way to stay ahead of the alien hordes is by forming a Brotherhood, Gun Bros’ multiplayer-esque feature. Brotherhood members can recruit each other’s characters, who will then fight alongside them as AI companions. Experience gained by AI players transfers over to their owners, so friends can help each other out even without actual simultaneous multiplayer. Think of it like joining a friend’s game in Crackdown: Project Sunburst, only there’s actually a point in this game.

Gun Bros should arrive around the same time as Contract Killer – in May or the summer months. Both games will feature 200 GamerScore. Like yesterday’s announced game, you can try the PC version of Gun Bros for free right now using Google’s Chrome browser. It’s actually pretty fun and addictive, so why not give it a shot, bro? WPCentral will have more details to share about both newly-announced Glu Mobile titles soon!

We're not huge fans of Cleverbot aka the witty artificial intelligence program out there that engages in a back and forth conversation (www.cleverbot.com), but we do recognize that a lot of people are fascinated by the technology.

Luckily you can now bring the fiendish AI bot with you on your Windows Phone. Yes, the official Cleverbot app for Windows Phone is now in the Marketplace and fetches for $0.99 with no trial.

That's a shame about no trial but the app is well done. It has some neat little sound effects, allows you to share your conversations to Facebook, Live, Twitter and even email. That's a requirement because sharing those conversations with the 'bot is one of the favorite pastimes for folks on the inets these days. From the app description:

"Talk to an app with Actual Intelligence! Say anything you like and it will reply. Make a friend! Roleplay, lyrics, jokes, memes - all sorts!

Cleverbot is Artificial Intelligence. It learns what people say, in context, and imitates.

Cleverbot says many things - claiming to be human, role-playing and much more. It may even say things you find inappropriate. Use with discretion and at your own risk.

Cleverbot is conversational entertainment - no more, no less. It is not made to be logical, give advice, or be useful. Parents must decide whether they wish young people to have access. Be sure of this, however: it is a bot. It is software. You will never talk to a human."

Like we said, the app is well done and if 'bots are your thing the $0.99 is worth it. Pick it up here in the Marketplace.Bonus points for you if you post some funny AI conversations in our comments. Thanks, Farhad A., for the tip!

[NSFW-L] Who needs Android? Not anyone who's used a Lumia 900.

Sometimes we come across odd things on the internet, after all we frequent reddit and 4chan on occasion. This video certainly ranks up there for entertainment value as it features someone very infatuated with his Lumia 900 and who also likes to rip into Android.

The result is crass, debased, juvenile and at times spot on. We also laughed. Obviously, satire and off the wall humor is not for everyone and due to language, you'll want to watch this with headphones on. We're not sure if Microsoft or Nokia would want him as a spokesperson but the guy is a character.

Grow makes it to the Windows Phone Marketplace, makes a nice first impression

Right on cue, the Windows Phone game Grow has made it to the Windows Phone Marketplace today. As we mentioned before, Grow is a fish-eat-fish arcade game from Epic Pixel. The game is a cross over from the Android Marketplace and is Epic Pixel's first venture in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Grow makes a nice first impression and is a nice addition to the Marketplace's gaming library.

Windows Phone App Review: Next Browser

If you're looking for an alternative to Internet Explorer you may want to take a look at Next Browser. It is a fast, feature rich alternative that makes a nice first impression. But does that first impression fade any? For the most part, no. But there is one thing that holds a very nice browser back.

Oh... if Next Browser is something that looks appealing, it's on sale through the end of the day for $.99 (regular price is two bucks).

We're back again for another exciting podcast, this time with myself, Jay Bennett and Rafael Rivera. The big news this week is the Lumia 900, its purple problem, sales and Microsoft's new SkyDrive push.

Rafael also tells us a lot about Skype and why getting calls in the background can be difficult on Windows Phone. Plus we take your questions!

It's no surprise if you follow tech blogs that Sammy is about to release they're much hyped Galaxy S III Android phone. Not much is known on the exact specs yet, but it's rumored to be 4.7" Super AMOLED HD (or whatever gimmicky name they have now) with a "micro arc oxidation" back. All you need to know is it will be crazy thin with a large screen and very fast CPUs on board.

Over at WP-Life, they claim to have a reliable source in South Korea noting that ol' Sammy will basically recycle the S III for a Windows Phone 8 device come this fall. While such a device won't be an exact clone, it will rely heavily on what ever is revealed in London on May 3rd.

In fact the working name is Samsung Focus S II. Basically the idea is because Windows Phone 8 steps up the specs so much, Samsung can easily port over WP8 to this almost existing, relatively cutting edge hardware. Here's what we supposedly can expect:

Faster dual/quad core processor (depending on region)

4.7-inch HD display

12-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera

NFC capabilities

Dedicated camera button

Samsung Cloud Support

Improved Photo Studio

LTE support

Of all the rumors we get, this is certainly very realistic and if anything, a conservative one. After all, the AT&T Focus S is basically a recycled Galaxy S II phone,so having them make a Focus S II based on the S III is almost expected at this point.

How do we feel about this if true? On the one hand, the Galaxy series is a huge hit for Samsung and they have stepped up their game in terms of hardware. On the other, here they are again "recycling" for Windows Phone, not exactly differentiating themselves from the likes of Nokia.

On a related note, we just got word from our AT&T ninja that the Focus S has officially gone End of Life (EOL) on us, meaning we can start to expect stores to phase that phone out, especially with the Lumia 900 getting all the attention. That doesn't rule out future updates for the phone by the way, it simply means AT&T is no longer actively selling that device anymore.

Samsung leapfrogs Nokia to become world's #1 handset vendor

A report by research firm Strategy Analytics shows that Samsung has surpassed Nokia to become the largest handset vendor in the world in terms of volume. In a quarter that saw a small three percent rise in mobile phone sales, Samsung captured 25 percent of the market. In the meantime, the struggling Finnish manufacturer Nokia's shipments decreased by 24 percent due to declining sales in emerging markets. Despite strong sales of their Lumia line of Windows Phone handsets, Nokia recorded a substantial Q1 loss of 3%, prompting Moody's to cut their debt rating to the lowest possible investment level.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "Nokia's global handset shipments declined a huge 24 percent annually to 82.7 million units in Q1 2012. Volumes were squeezed at both ends, as low-end feature phone shipments in emerging markets stalled and high-end Microsoft Lumia smartphones were unable to offset the rapid decline of Nokia's legacy Symbian business. Nokia was the world's largest handset vendor between 1998 and 2011, for 14 years, before finally yielding top position to rival Samsung this quarter."

Fueled by strong sales in the United States and Japan, Apple nearly doubled its worldwide shipments from 18.6 million to 35.1 million. They are expected to grow even more in the second quarter, though the launch of Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S3 will likely slow Apple down a bit. Though things are currently rough for Nokia in the grand scheme, the Lumia 900 is selling like hotcakes. With recent rumors of Verizon finally embracing Windows Phone, could we see a quick turnaround for the one-time king of the handset heap?

LG confirms no Windows Phone 8 upgrade? Not quite

There has been some confusion this morning surrounding a tweet that was published by the Italian LG Twitter account. The tweet in question was in reply to another user who queried whether or not the LG Optimus 7 would be receiving the upcoming Windows Phone "Apollo" update, which stated that the device would not be upgraded as confirmed by Microsoft.

Microsoft hasn't officially confirmed anything regarding the "Apollo" update, apart from app compatibility. LG has since published a follow up tweet explaining that the previous statement was made in error. It's still up in the air whether first and second generation Windows Phones will be updated to "Apollo", so we should all continue to await confirmation from the software giant.

Now that you have some insight on how your Windows Phone camera works, these apps will help you edit and add a creative touch to your photographs. Some of these apps will even have an in-house camera function to keep everything under one roof.

As with all our "best of" lists, this list contains the apps that stand out in our opinions. If we've missed an app that you think should be included, please sound off in the comments.

The Australian carrier Telstra has announced a new Windows Phone competition featuring the Lumia 800. "The Lumia Quest" will see 10 glossy new white Lumia 800 handsets being given away in 5 cities across the country this coming May. The members of public will be able to follow social media clues posted on the official Facebook page to find the hidden Lumia stash.

The competition is finders keepers and is taking place in Brisbane (May 7th), Melbourne (May 8th), Perth (May 9th), Adelaide (May 10th) and Sydney (May 11th). What do you receive should you manage to successfully find the handsets on the treasure hunt? Well the white Lumia 800 of course, but along with the Windows Phone, the ten devices come with a Telstra $50 Pre-Paid Cap Encore recharge, with $1000.00 credit and 2GB of data. Not bad, eh?

So who's heading down to the events? Keep an eye out on the official Telstra Facebook page for more information as well as the clues on the competition days.

Update: We've just corrected the article that it's indeed the Lumia 800, not the Lumia 900.

From the Forums: Hot threads and Windows Phone shortcomings

This week's hottest thread really isn't just one hot thread but rather a collection of related threads covering one topic: Windows Phone and its shortcomings.

Some of these so-called deficiencies could be bigger than Windows Phone itself or at least that is what some think. In this thread "Why WP isn't as popular as it should be" forum member baileystein, who sells Windows Phones, has a unique perspective on all of this and shares it with us.

Curious as to what he and others have to say? Read on past the break to get their views.